Dear Colleagues,
We are writing to inform you about our MA track in Japanese
Linguistics and Teaching Japanese as a 2nd Language (TJSL) and
our new Ph.D. program in Japanese Linguistics in the Department
of East Asian Studies at the University of Arizona. Perhaps the
best way to describe our programs is to say that we study the
Japanese language in context, focusing on grammar, use,
interaction, and social organization. (Our current projects
include the development of a Japanese conversation corpus and a
study of gender-related differences in Japanese workplace
speech.) This way of studying language has a direct impact on
our approach to Japanese language pedagogy, in which we emphasize
the importance of the language as a medium of social interaction.
The University of Arizona has a extremely rich linguistics
community represented particularly by the internationally
recognized Department of Linguistics, the Linguistic Anthropology
program in the Department of Anthropology, and the
interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Second Language Acquisition
and Teaching. In addition to their courses in East Asian
Studies, our students also take advantage of courses, lectures,
and colloquia in these programs.
Because of the nature of our Japanese Linguistics/TJSL program
and the rich linguistics community at the University of Arizona,
we believe we provide our students with a rewarding linguistics
experience. We would appreciate your bringing it to the
attention of anyone who might be interested. Some teaching and
research assistantships are available on a competitive basis.
Perhaps you may be interested in knowing that for the 1996
academic year we were able to award all the students who applied
for financial aid with some financial assistance. We ask that
students who wish to be considered for financial aid start the
application process early. Those interested should request an
application packet at the following address:
Graduate Secretary
East Asian Studies Franklin 404
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona 85721
Thank you very much for helping us spread the word about our
program to interested students.
Kimberly Jones Tsuyoshi Ono